This invention relates to a novel two-lever control unit, and more particularly to a control unit having a throttle lever and a clutch lever one of which can be locked reliably when the other lever is operated, the control unit therefore being operable with improved safety.
Single lever control units and two-lever control units have heretofore been used as so-called dual control units for controlling the marine engine either in the cabin or on the bridge as desired. Two-lever control units comprise a shaft mounted on the main body of the unit, a clutch operating plate and a throttle operating plate both rotatably supported by the shaft, and a clutch lever and a throttle lever for driving the operating plates respectively, the levers being freely movable independently of each other. Such control units involve the risk of reckless driving that while the boat is driven at a high speed with the clutch lever in its forward position, the clutch lever is shifted to the reverse position to brake the boat. The control units are further subject to a similar risk when an external force acts on the clutch lever for one cause or another.
With control units of the type described, the end of the clutch cable or throttle cable pivoted to the clutch operating plate or to the throttle operating plate is swung by the turn of the operating plate about a point where the cable is supported. Accordingly the units have the problem that frequent use of the lever reduces the life of the cable because the stroke of the swing is great.